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This story of cheaters outsmarted by a wiser instructor has been circulating for several years in a version that names a specific class, instructor, and school: the Introductory Chemistry class taught by Professor James F. Bonk at Duke University. Example: [Collected on the Internet, 1995] Professor Bonk was rather circumspect when asked whether he ever actually gave such a test: The legend of a 'Which tire?' question being used to catch fibbers is an old one, antedating Professor Bonk and his chemistry class. It has been told for many years as a joke, with varying participants: a teacher and students who cut class, a manager and players who show up late for practice or miss a curfew, or a boss and employees who report late for work — all of which confirm the person of authority to be wiser than the underlings who try to pull a fast one on him. We found this telling of it in a 1979 collection of anecdotes: In 2004 it surfaced in Reader's Digest presented as having happened to a teacher at an unnamed community college. This legend is actually least plausible in its academic form. What if the students got the tire question right, either because they were cagey enough to work out the details in advance or because they actually had a flat tire? Would they really be awarded top marks without having to take a real final? Wouldn't that be unfair to the other students? Yes, we know: this was just a scare the professor pulled on his students to let them know they weren't fooling anyone before he gave them the real exam. A similar biblical tale of lying conspirators exposed through separate questioning can be found in the Bible's story of Susanna, one of the books of the Apocrypha. Variations:
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